• by OMMA Magazine Writers , September 3, 2010

McKinney
Qwest Communications, "Protect Ur Rep"
CONTENT INTEGRATION

Qwest Communications wanted to increase consideration for their services among videogame enthusiasts - a demographic that is cynical about advertising, tends to view brand presence as an intrusion and therefore, demands ingenuity. Qwest got the target audience to seek out ads by turning the groups' game-playing ability into bragging rights. Protect Ur Rep, a six-week integrated online/in-game campaign targeting Xbox LIVE gamers, offered players the chance to plaster their Xbox LIVE avatars over Qwest's in-game ads in the game of their choice. Gamers created a custom poster, which - through a new process invented with this campaign as the impetus - Qwest was able to push into Xbox LIVE. Every two weeks, new winners' avatars were plastered over Qwest's in-game ads, resulting in 400,000 nationalized unique visits to the microsite and 71 percent of microsite traffic coming from direct visits. The competition also created 20,000 nationalized registrants.